Legislative Session, Week 14

We are just two weeks away from the crossover deadline! Bills that have not passed either the House or Senate will be considered ‘dead’ this legislative session. With that threat, legislators are picking up the pace with getting bills through committees and onto the chamber floors. We’re still waiting for the Senate Budget. We expect this budget to come out mid-May.

Action on relevant bills this week:

SB 137 Prohibit Co-pay Waiver/Medicaid Provider. This bill passed the Senate and was sent to the House. This bill clarifies, in pharmaceutical statute, that Medicaid providers cannot waive a co-payment from a client in order to get their business or this will be considered Medicaid Fraud. It was amended to only apply to pharmacies- the original bill addressed all Medicaid providers. It does allow a waived co-payment in cases of hardship.

HB 149 Caylee’s Law/Report Missing Children. This bill would make it a felony for a parent or other caretaker to fail to report a missing child. It has passed the House and Senate and is in a conference committee for changes made. The bill passed the Senate and was sent back to the House for concurrence.

HB 399 Amend Laws Pertaining to DHHS-AB. This bill changes laws requested by HHS to child abuse, neglect and dependency; Medicaid and Public Health. This bill passed the House and was sent to the Senate.

HB 649 Small Group Health Ins. Technical Changes. This legislation makes changes to the small employer group health coverage reform act to mitigate the effects of the Affordable Care Act on small business’. The bill was referred to the floor.

HB 716 Clarify law/Prohibit Sex-selective Abortion. This law prohibits anyone from performing or attempting to perform an abortion when the sex of the unborn child is the main factor in getting the abortion. This bill passed out of committee and is scheduled to be heard on the House Floor this week.

HB 786 Reclaim NC Act. This bill is similar to Arizona style immigration legislation. It enacts the reasonable enactment of comprehensive legislation addressing immigration matters in NC. It passed out of committee and was referred to the committee on Finance. The NC Justice Center did a great fact sheet on the facts of this legislation.

HB 867 Medicaid County of Residence. This bill would be a fix to a huge issue under the Medicaid Waiver as it pertains to Medicaid County of Origin. It would allow for the transfer of individuals to county of residence to eliminate gaps in services when individuals move to different counties. It passed out of committee and the House floor and was sent to the Senate.

What’s scheduled for this week?

Some committees have already released their schedule for this week. We know, at this point, that these three bills are schedule for Tuesday, May 7th:

SB 675 Eliminate Exceptions/Med Treatment/Minors. This legislation would prohibit physicians from treating minors for STDs, mental health and substance abuse without written consent from guardian. This bill will be heard in the House Committee on Health and Human Services.